Hackers release 1 million Apple IDs from FBI laptop

Latest Technology News

QMI Agency

Sep 4, 2012

, Last Updated: 10:55 AM ET

A hacking group has publicly released one million Apple IDs they claim to have found on an FBI laptop.

AntiSec, associated with the notorious hacker collective Anonymous, claims to have found more than 12 million of these Apple Unique Device Identifiers (UDID) on an FBI laptop, listed alongside user names, device names, phone numbers, addresses and notification tokens.

UDIDs are unique 40-character codes assigned to all Apple devices with cellular connectivity.

AntiSec removed the personal data and just posted the UDIDs themselves. Apple users can download the list of numbers and check to see if their device is among them.

Some Apple users online already claim to have found their devices on the list, though the data has not been officially verified by the FBI or Apple.

The group suspects the FBI used the info to track people's iPhones and warned people to be cautious about FBI surveillance.

In a statement posted online, AntiSec said it hacked the computer in retaliation to the National Security Agency's Keith Alexander attempts to recruit hackers to their cause.

"It was an amusing hypocritical attempt made by the system to flatter hackers into becoming tools for the state, while his so-righteous employer hunts any who doesn't bow to them like f------ dogs," it reads. "We got the message. We decided we'd help out Internet security by auditing FBI first."